


Little Ducklings

by ChemicallyEnhanced



Series: TakaRitsu Week 2020 [2]
Category: Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi
Genre: Gen, Here comes Saga Masamune: disaster galore, de-aged character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:13:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25664185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChemicallyEnhanced/pseuds/ChemicallyEnhanced
Summary: Takano Masamune comes to work as a 17 year old Saga Masamune, with no memory of anything from the last 10 years. Ritsu is forced to take responsibility for him. This is not going to end well.Day 2 Prompt:Clumsy/Date
Relationships: Onodera Ritsu & Takano Masamune
Series: TakaRitsu Week 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1858672
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Little Ducklings

**Author's Note:**

> for [TakaRitsu Week 2020!](https://takaritsuweek.tumblr.com)
> 
> Inspired by [this](https://shitposting-dumbass.tumblr.com/post/623306675891437570/sekaiichi-hatsukoi-fandom-wheres-my-au) post

“Onodera-senpai… I think I made copies of the wrong document.”

Ritsu sighed inwardly and turned to his latest headache of the month. It wasn’t enough that half of his authors were giving him the cold shoulder a week before the deadline for their final storyboards; he also had to deal with a de-aged version of Takano Masamune “because everyone else was unable to do it.”

In front of him, hands clenched around a pile of paper, stood Saga Masamune, as young as he’d been that fateful day he and Ritsu had finally met for the first time. Nobody knew how this happened; the man—boy?—had suddenly come into work at noon, mismatched clothes hanging around his thin frame, and subsequently caused chaos that the entire building had heard about.

Unsurprisingly, the first worry on everyone’s minds was, “How are we supposed to publish this month’s volume of _Emerald_ without their Editor-in-Chief?”

Everyone, that is, except for Ritsu.

It had come as quite a shock to see his old senpai standing there. Never mind the fact that _this_ version of Saga-senpai hadn’t even met Ritsu yet and therefore treated him as he did everyone else—like a stranger. Not even the slightest hint of recognition in those dull eyes.

Suffice to say, it had shaken Ritsu pretty badly, enough that he’d barely been able to do any work for the better part of the afternoon.

Now it was Ritsu’s responsibility to “look after” this younger Takano Masamune; in other words, babysit him until he turned back to normal because nobody else wanted to deal with it.

Ritsu sighed outwardly as he thought about earlier and held out a hand. “Give them to me. Which document did you pick up from the interns?”

“The… sales for Saitou-sensei’s manga over the years.” Though Saga’s words were hesitant, his expression still maintained that ever-present blankness, as if anything other than indifference was too much for the teen to handle.

“No, I asked you to pick up Mutou-sensei’s sales,” Ritsu explained, trying not to make himself sound like he was about to throw a table out the window.

“…sorry.”

He breathed in, reminding himself that Takano—Saga—was only 17 right now and was probably much more sensitive than he would become as an adult. Yelling was prohibited, especially since everyone would be watching Ritsu to see how he would treat his future boss.

“Alright,” he finally decided to say, smiling tightly. “That’s ok, we all make mistakes.” _Disregarding the fact that you’ve already made 5 of them today._ He set the papers aside; they might prove useful in the future. “Instead of the sales reports… could you go buy me a can of coffee from the vending machine?” Ritsu deposited the correct amount of coins into Saga’s hand.

_Hopefully even he won’t mess this up…_

Saga nodded and left the _Emerald_ department towards the break room at the end of the hall.

_If anything,_ Ritsu thought, turning back to his own work, _at least he’s quiet._ Guilt bloomed within him instantly. _No, that’s not right. He was quiet because nobody bothered paying attention to him. Because his parents barely talked to him._

He picked up a pen, preparing to attack the storyboard in front of him. _I don’t know all the details of Takano-san’s earlier years, but… was he ever lonely? Did he ever wish someone would have_ looked _at him and noticed who he really was?_ Ritsu made a kanji note on page 5 and turned to the next one. _I wonder if he felt like I was like everyone else… only seeing what was on the outside._

_I really did love him back then, though._

“Oh,” came a familiar voice, and Ritsu glanced up only to startle back at the sight of a Saga whose entire upper body was soaked in cold coffee, hair sticking to his forehead. He looked down at Ritsu with a vague frown, but seemed otherwise unaffected. “I’m sorry, Onodera-senpai.”

Ritsu jolted out of his chair and began to push Saga towards the restroom, ignoring the curious—and slightly mocking—looks that he was getting from other departments. “H-here, Saga-kun, let’s go clean this up.”

Once they were both inside the restroom— _thank god,_ Ritsu thought in relief—he began to wet some paper towels in water while Saga just stood there, still holding that half-empty coffee can.

“Well?”

As if he’d suddenly been rebooted, Saga set the coffee near the sink and started to pat at his, frankly unsalvageable, clothes with the paper towels. It would have been weird, not to mention _extremely_ inappropriate, for Ritsu to… essentially feel up and down his former lover’s body, even if he _were_ just doing so to clean him up, so he stood there, unable to believe that this was happening to him right now.

“…I don’t think this is working, Onodera-senpai,” Saga said after several minutes of wiping at his clothes, to no avail. All it did was spread the coffee around. “…sticky,” he muttered, frowning again, and tossed the dirty paper towels into the trash.

Ritsu groaned, pressing a hand to his forehead. This was _not_ in his job description. “What else am I supposed to do?” _I need to get back to my_ actual _job._

Though it was mostly a rhetorical question, Saga answered anyways. “I think my shirt is okay.”

“Take off your coat, then.” If Ritsu hadn’t been distracted by thinking about work, he would have seen the very faint blush on Saga’s cheeks when he said that, but fortunately, he didn’t notice a thing.

Saga’s shirt underneath had small stains and smelled strongly of coffee, but it _was_ a bit better than what he’d had before. With that done, Ritsu turned to exit the bathroom and return to his work—he’d wasted so many hours already…—but was stopped by a hand on his wrist.

“…what is it?” He asked, turning back to Saga who had the strangest expression on his face.

“Thank you for… looking after me,” is all Saga said before he let go and exited the bathroom without waiting for a response.

Ritsu blinked, unsure how to react. Rare were the times that Takano had ever thanked him for anything, let alone a much younger Takano who said two words for everyone else’s twenty. He went back to his desk without thinking more on it, but he couldn’t help wondering afterwards, with the faintest warmth in his chest, _That was… nice._

Maybe Saga wasn’t as difficult to handle as he’d initially believed? Not as much as Takano was, at least.

…At least, he thought, up until Saga had reached for a book that was _just_ slightly too high for him and brought half of the bookshelf down with him.

_Takano-san,_ Ritsu cursed to himself, _I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… please, please, please return back to normal soon!_


End file.
